The Objective of My Affection

Writing objectives: something that is required of all teachers for their lesson plans and something that can be both difficult and helpful at the same time. A quality, well written objective can serve as a great guide for student learning and teacher facilitation, but a confusing, poorly written objective can cause frustration on the part of the learner and the teacher. This week's blog post will serve as guide on how to create proper objectives, and will provide tips to help you learn to write them like a pro! 

A quality objective will be SMART. That is, it will be specific, measurable, appropriate for the audition it is designed for, realistic, and timely. It will also answer the questions of who, what, where, when, and how. In addition, a quality objective will also only focus on one skill or topic at a time. Simply put: it should tell the learner what you want them to do, how they will do it, when they need to do it by, and how they will be evaluated on it. 

Quality objectives also tap into the different levels of Bloom's taxonomy. In addition, objectives should be varied to incorporate the 3 domains of learning: cognitive, affective, and psychomotor. These keep objectives exciting and interesting. Here are some great resources that explain how to do these things in more detail: UNC Charlotte and BU.

Let's look at some examples of both high quality and poor quality learning objectives and dissect what classifies them as such. 

• Example 1: Students will understand the major parts of the plan.
• Who: students
• What: understand major parts of the plant
• When: ?
• How: ?
• Example 2: Students in Plant Science will be able to identify the 4 major parts of the plant by the end of the class period, as defined in the Plant and Soil Science textbook. 
• Who: students in Plant Science
• What: identify the 4 major parts of the plant
• When: by the end of class
• How: as defined in the Plant and Soil Science textbook

Example 2 is the better learning objective. It fulfills the criteria of the SMART goal and clearly answers the questions of who, what, where, when, and how. Students would be able to look at this objective and easily be able to understand what was being expected of them for that class period.

Including quality objectives in your lesson plans is also helpful for others who view and may utilize them. Teachers are usually required to leave sub plans for when they are absent, and making sure that proper learning objectives are incorporated into them can help both the sub and the students know what needs to be accomplished while you are out. In addition, having the same objectives from your lesson plan posted on the board can be a helpful tool if you are observed by an administrator.

Writing quality objectives is a critical skill for teachers to master. They will help reduce confusion, keep things organized, and make mastering content easier. Hopefully this post will help them from being the bane of your existence to the objective of your affection!